Back in the days of the GameCube Animal Crossing, when friends swapped memory cards and Tom Nook in a sweater vest was only a vague wisp that haunted the edges of our dreams and/or nightmares, players could find virtual NES consoles that contained emulated classics such as Pinball and Balloon Fight.

Since then, however, these 8-bit diversions have not appeared in subsequent Animal Crossing titles. Animal Crossing: New Leaf is no exception, and as Animal Crossing producer Katsuya Eguchi has told Kotaku in an interview, adding classic games would undermine Nintendo’s method of distributing them through the Virtual Console:

At the time, we didn't have a Virtual Console system. We thought that playing games inside of a game is kind of funny, and we wanted to do it. But now there's a Virtual Console where you can play classic games, so we don't think we will be doing that in future titles.

There are pros and cons to this decision on both sides. It’s hard to argue with free included games, of course, but the Virtual Console comes with the added benefits of easier access and save states. It should also be said that the Animal Crossing games stand up well on their own, and playing a game about a virtual life only to spend that life playing virtual games does have a bit of a hollow ring to it.

How do you feel about not having emulated games in New Leaf? Do you miss them from the original, or is it no big deal? Let us know below.

As a child, Tim once spent an entire month staring longingly at a copy of Kirby's Dream Land his parents had kept atop the refrigerator until he could play it on an upcoming road trip. That month would change his life forever. TLatshaw